Keith woman's childhood memories retold in Doric to aid Rathven Parish Church
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A KEITH woman's Doric memoir has boosted funds for a church in a local parish that is "always in her heart".
Adeline Reid MBE, a former district nurse who founded Keith Cancer Link 39 years ago, self-published "Childhood Memories of a Slochy Quine" in autumn last year.
To date sales of the book have raised £1300 for Rathven Parish Church, in Portessie.
Although not a church-goer herself, keen writer Adeline, of Regent Court, is still very much attached to Portessie, where she spent a happy childhood in the 1940s and 1950s.
The book is compiled of Adeline's memories of her upbringing at Vanity Fair, a district of houses at Portessie, where she lived at Chapel Street.
Adeline said: "During lockdown I was encourage to write a book in the Doric about my childhood experiences. I am passionate about the Doric – I like to write and speak it.
"I'm always writing stories. And my friend, Vera Taylor, from Buckie, suggested I put them together in a book. Then I got thinking that the kirk had missed out on strawberry teas and coffee mornings and all its usual fundraisers, so I'll maybe just do that.
"I decided to do the book and dedicate it to the church at Rathven, a place which was very much part of my childhood.
"I was married there and the bairns were christened there."
Jane Murray, from Buckie Community Charity Shop, helped to get the book on local shop shelves.
"We've sold copies all over the globe so I was fair chuffed," Adeline added.
"The fisher folk at Portessie were very proud of their houses and their way of life. The houses were kept immaculate for the men to return to after weeks at sea. There is a story about where I was brought up, one about Buckie's Peter Fair, and another about going for a day at the brambles which was great excitement for us.
"There are others about picking tatties, Halloween, a Sunday School picnic, Portessie Gala, as well as a few poems. I also have some skipping and 'stotty ba' (a ball on a string) songs and rhymes. These things are imprinted on your mind from childhood days because that was our entertainment.
"It was really a very happy childhood and an awful lot of folk will remember these things and relate to the memories. I've had feedback from around the world – the number of people I've had saying 'gosh, I forgot about that'.
"Portessie is always in my heart and Doric is such an emotive language."
The book, priced at £7, is available from Mither Tongue, in Keith, and Eat Mair Fish, in Buckie. Copies can be requested by emailing stralene@hotmail.co.uk, with postage and packing costing £1.40.
